Online editor in China detained for reposting

New York, March 5, 2012--A Web editor in the southern
Chinese city of Foshan was jailed for 10 days after reposting an unconfirmed
report that two local officials had been caught with
prostitutes, according to Chinese and international news reports.

Shang Laicheng, an editor at Tiantian Xin news forum, was
detained by Foshan police after leaving work on February 17, according to Southern
Metropolis Daily. His family was informed that he had been formally
detained in a Chancheng district detention center for spreading false
information.

According to news reports, the accusation was based on
information Shang had reposted, saying city police had caught two local prosecutors
using the services of prostitutes at a sauna, but that "the two were driving
around and strolling the streets the next day," according to a translation by U.S.-funded
broadcaster Radio Free Asia. The post did not name the prosecutors.

The Foshan Procuratorate office said on its official
microblog that the information in the post was fabricated and had damaged the
reputations of authorities, according to news reports. It is unclear who wrote
the original post.

"This heavy-handed treatment is clearly intended to quell
open discussion on the Internet," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program
coordinator. "If public officials contest the accuracy of a posting, they
should use recourses that do not include imprisonment."

In a press conference on February 28, Shang said he had not
intended to spread misinformation, and that he was seeking official
compensation and a review of the case, according to news reports.

A colleague at Tiantian
Xintold
Radio Free Asia that Shang had been placed on leave, and that he remains
under police investigation.

Netizens and journalists raised questions about Shang's
arrest. Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern
Metropolis Dailyquoted a
legal scholar who defended Shang's rights, saying that the Chinese
constitution gives citizens the right to supervise the government. If the post
was untrue, then authorities should produce information to prove it, the legal
scholar said.